This invention relates to a process for loading a shipping container with at least one wheeled vehicle for shipping by highway, rail and/or water transportation.
In one prior art process, ready-to-drive vehicles such as tractors are driven for shipping into a container such as a ship's cargo hold, the loading area of a truck, etc., by means of the standard vehicle drive. These vehicles are shipped in normal operating condition and can be unloaded at the shipping destination efficiently and conveniently by normal operation of the vehicle drive.
However, this process is suitable only for shipping relatively low vehicles such as tractors without a driver's cab or roll bar. If the vehicle does have a driver's cab or roll bar, the structures may be dismantled and shipped separately. Dismantling of the driver's cab requires dismantling of operating components of the engine and transmission of the tractor and, thus, the tractor cannot be driven into the container by means of its own drive system. Furthermore, because of the larger external dimensions of tractors with an engine power of 70 kilowatts or more, such tractors are too high for a standard container even without any superstructure. The use of larger containers which could hold such vehicles would increase shipping costs. Higher shipping costs would be due to the increased amount of unusable space between vehicles in the container.